1997 General Election

That must be it then. I only saw the odd bit on cable in the early days from the original set (the current BBC World set). I saw a fair chunk of overnights as i always used to be up very late. Jane Hill used to be the main overnight anchor IIRC along with Taymoor Nabili (sp?). When did News 24 and World begin simulcasting the overnight (UK) bulletins? I know it wasn't long after N24's launch but it wasn't straight away as i remember the presenter used to open as "Welcome to BBC News 24" and even the correspondents would sign off as "Correspondent name here - BBC News 24" Where as now every report just signs off as BBC News (this didn't last very long). The only give away in the early days that it was going out on World was the astons changed to a flag motif transparent fade where as N24's astons were blue & orange transparent fade.

Matthew was definitely a News 24 presenter at launch. In fact, he and Sarah Montague co-presented the first N24 bulletin on BBC1.

N24 tried the g'round-breaking' idea of not making it's presenters wear jackets - so, if I recall, Matthew presented in shirt sleeves and a waistcoat on the opening night.

Why I remember that, I have no idea...

Matthew was one of the only male presenters who didn't just wear shirtsleeves.

Teymoor is now with Al Jazeera in Kuala Lumpur I believe.

Originally News 24 and World had a separate overnight service - with the World news team providing 15 minute bulletins (two I think) for News 24 overnight, when they were off-air on World.

I think this was probably because News 24 was really pretty shaky when it first launched, as it was the first UK network news operation running server playout with automated graphics and vision mixer control... They waited a month or two for this to settle down before allowing it to take over the BBC World overnight service.

Think the "BBC News 24" sign-off on reports was not standard even at launch - and was more reporters thinking it was what they should do.

Noticed a young Huw Edwards earlier, a little younger-looking Jeremy Vine, but Nick Robinson ten years ago looks really young I thought (and without the trademark specs). Heh.

http://www.gorillaenterprises.co.uk/upload/uploadFiles/hq-nick_.jpg

Still like the quirky things about the 97 coverage - Peter Snow's "battlefield" graphics, how well the results gfx have stood the test of time, Dimbleby's teleprinter built into the desk, the videowall and all the correspondents/interviews I have forgotten.

Do we know if BBC Parliament ever showed the 2001 coverage - I know we've had 92 and 2005 at least once each. 2001 had the "How many heaves" sequence, amongst other things...

Its a great shame there's apparently nowhere available to show a rerun of 2000 Today - which is long overdue. I can't imagine Parliament ever transmitting it, and BBC4 is probably out of the question given how many scheduled programmes they'd have to clear (aside from the fact they don't have the freedom to broadcast 24 hours). I repeat my earlier plea should anyone know where its possible to get a copy of the complete recording...

Yep - the remote camera in the middle of the studio that pops up and down is a very neat solution as well.

I think 1997 is particularly interesting because there is such a great story to tell, and the broadcast really captures the excitement of such a major change in the political landscape.



Can't remember 2001 being shown.



I suspect there may be lots of rights issues with a repeat of 2000 Today, I suspect many performers may have been paid for a single performance. Repeating an election is cheap - repeating an entertainment show is a totally different issue.

(I'm assuming you mean 2000 Today as broadcast on BBC One in the UK, and not the 2000 Today International feed that the BBC provided in parallel for their international broadcast colleagues - which at times was a MUCH better watch. In fact at a number of points in the day News24 was a better watch than BBC One! 2300 in particular, when Europe hit midnight...)

Yeah - that camera was a great idea. Doesn't it revolve, so in fact it's used for the shots of Dimbleby AND Peter Snow at his big screen (with a cut to a wide shot in between to give it time to spin!)?

Yep - it pops up to allow for Dimbleby being seated and Peter Snow stood up?

The technology itself is not unusual - you just don't usually see it. (A similar remote rail cam is often used on a music shows in TC1 where there isn't much space - and you don't want to see a camera operator in shot. The Eurovision/Melodifestivalen often uses quite a few of these - with the operators all sat in a row!)

Indeed, 2000 Today (News 24 (UK) version) was much better in places than the BBC One version. Seemed to capture the moment much better. It would be really cool to see bits of it again as it was all such a mamoth broadcast.

Well,

That's how Bank Holidays should be

roll on 1987, Three weeks to go.

What was the camera used for the flying end shot? I assume the credits were displayed over it, it was very impressive! I doubt it was a jib as that would've surely been anchored from were Dimbleby was sitting, and I didn't see any supports for a circular rail cam. Was it cable supported?

And how bad does this make Thursday's local elections effort look!